Wilson & Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 13, 1953

102 N.L.R.B. 191 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

WILSON & CO., INC. 191
seasonal employees comprise only 10 to 15 percent of the unit and the
permanent employees are unquestionably a representative group of
the employees in the unit. In view of their reasonable expectation of
reemployment, we shall permit those seasonal employees who were
employed at the end of the last working season to participate in the
election herein e
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
`Ibid.
WILSON & Co., INC . and LOCAL No. 3, UNITED PACKINGHOUSE WORiK-
ERS OF AMERICA, C. I. 0., PETITIONER . Case No. 18-RC-1670.
January 13,1953
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Max Rotenberg, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-mem-
ber panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Styles and Peterson].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of the Employer's time-and-cost clerks,
stock clerks, and scalers at its Cedar Rapids, Iowa, plant, excluding the
chief clerk, the assistant chief clerk, and divisional clerks. The Peti-
tioner urges that the clerks it desires to exclude from the unit are super-
visors. The Employer contends that the duties of the employees in the
Petitioner's proposed unit give them access to confidential information,
and therefore they should not be represented for purposes of collective
bargaining by the same labor organization that represents the Em-
ployer's production and maintenance employees." In the alternative,
' The Petitioner and the Employer are parties to a contract covering the Employer's
production and maintenance employees . This contract excludes the employeesdavolved in
the instant case.
102 NLRB No. 10.
192 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Employer takes the position that if any unit of plant clerks is ap-
propriate, divisional clerks do not have any supervisory authority and
should be included in the unit.
The Employer employs approximately 36 time-and-cost clerks, 6
stock clerks , 8 scalers , and 4 divisional clerks , who are known as plant
clerks. They work under the supervision of the chief clerk and the
assistant chief clerk in foremen 's offices located in different parts of the
plant. All work the same hours and are paid on a weekly salary basis.
Vacation and other employee benefits are the same for all of the em-
ployees. They perform various plant clerical duties, none of which
pertains to the Employer's labor relations or which give them access
to records concerning the Employer 's labor relations.
Time-and-cost clerks: The principal duties of these employees is
to check and compare the employees' worktime, as reflected on their
timecards, with the same information reflected on the "time spread"
record kept by the employees' respective foremen, and to post the
results . They also perform miscellaneous clerical duties such as writ-
ing up employees ' requisitions for supplies , repair orders , accident
reports, and time orders with which production and maintenance
employees obtain their checks. They also originate and process the
side rate in the event production and maintenance employees work
on a job other than their regularly rated job.
The Employer contends that the time-and-cost clerks are confidential
employees, because they are present at a discussion between the fore-
man and the union steward and the employee involved in the first
step in the grievance procedure. The time-and-cost clerk is present
when the grievance is discussed in order to give necessary information
to the foreman, inasmuch as he is likely to have compiled the report
that started the grievance. The record does not show that these
employees have any authority to make any recommendations or to
adjust any grievances.
Stock clerks: These employees maintain records regarding the Em-
ployer's products that are brought into and transferred out of the
department, and compile stock records of products on hand. They
assist the foreman in taking inventory , and compile yield reports
from which some of the Employer's sale prices are based. Although
the Employer contends that they sometimes are present during a dis-
cussion of grievances , the record fails to disclose any instances where
these employees were present during a grievance conference.
Scalers : The scalers weigh products that come into and go out of
the department . Their figures are used in the making up of various
test reports and yield reports from which the Employer computes
WILSON & to., INC. 193
some of its selling prices. They also weigh the piecework production
of employees in the production and maintenance unit.
Division clerks : The principal duty of these clerks is to substitute
for other plant clerical employees who are absent from work. They
also transmit instructions from the chief clerk or his assistant to other
clerks, and instruct new clerks as to procedure. They do not direct
any other employees in their work. A majority of their time is spent
performing the same duties as the time-and-cost clerks, the scalers,
and stock clerks.
The divisional clerks have no authority to hire, discharge, or disci-
pline employees, or effectively to recommend such action. Any recom-
mendations they may make in regard to discipline are subject to
independent investigation and final action by the chief clerk and the
foremen . The record does not permit a finding that the divisional
clerks responsibly direct the work of other employees in a manner
which requires the use of independent judgment. We are satisfied
on the record as a whole that the divisional clerks do not possess super-
visory authority within the meaning of the Act, and we shall, there-
fore, include them in the unit.2
The time-and-cost clerks, stock clerks, and scalers make up reports
which the Employer uses in the operation of its business, and in com-
puting its monthly and yearly profit-and-loss statements. The Em-
ployer considers these reports and data as confidential material.
Because the confidential information possessed by these plant clerks
relates only to matters of a general or financial nature, and they do
not assist or act in a confidential capacity to any persons exercising
managerial functions in the field of labor relations, we find that they
are not confidential employees .8
We find that the following employees of the Employer constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All plant clerks of the Employer
at its Cedar Rapids, Iowa, plant, excluding all other employees, office
clerical, confidential, and professional employees, guards, and super-
visors as defined in the Act .4
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
a Bulldog Electric Products Company , 96 NLRB 642 : Arnold Hoffman & Co., Incor-
porated, 95 NLRB 907 ; East Texas Steel Castings Company , Inc., 95 NLRB 1135.
i Bulldog Electric Products Company, 96 NLRB 64 .2; Truseon Steel Company , 95 NLRB
1005 , Republic Steel Corporation , Canton Plant, Central Alloy District , 91 NLRB 904;
Ball Brothers Company, Incorporated , 87 NLRB 34.
4 The record shows, and we find, that the chief clerk and the assistant chief elerk are
supervisors within the meaning of the Act